14 ms·

Use Hulu, Netflix, Pandora and Rdio from any country

44 points by tomaac 14y ago

btown 14y ago
I would assume Hulu et. al. restrict based on IP address. So is MediaHint running a large number of proxy servers? It seems this was put together at a hackathon... if so, how are they planning to get it to pay for itself?
jonny_eh 14y ago
So where is the traffic being routed through?
- togasystems 14y ago
  I just downloaded the proxy configuration file - http://mediahint.com/default.pac http://mediahint.com/default.pac It seems to be running through us.mediahint.com
- RoyceFullerton 14y ago
  Is all traffic being routed through their proxy or just the bare minimum to start the stream on the various websites? Basically: is all my chrome browser traffic going through their servers?
tobiasu 14y ago
http://www.mediahint.com/terms http://www.mediahint.com/terms "in any way that breaches terms of service or any other regulations of use of the websites you access;" Look, if you want to run a site/service violating copyright agreements, do it properly and post funny replies to the DMCA requests. Or whatever. But don't try to hide behind this pathetic pseudo-legalese bs.
- DanBlake 14y ago
  I believe a appropriate way to handle this would be to say something like: "In order to use this service, You must have obtained a waiver from Hulu, Netflix or Pandora that allows you to waive paragraph X of their terms of service. If you do not have express permission, You may not continue." Not sure how well it would hold up but in theory it would put the responsibility on the consumer and not the supplier.
togasystems 14y ago
I wonder how long this will last before the proxy is banned?
Dramatize 14y ago
I've been using http://www.unblock-us.com/ http://www.unblock-us.com/ for the last year. It's been a great service to access Netflix/Hulu.
- andrewcross 14y ago
  Same here. I have no problem paying the $5/month if it means the service stays up and runs flawlessly.
  - harisenbon 14y ago
    I use unotelly personally, but I completely agree. The fact that it works on my iphone, ipad, appletv, etc is completely worth the measly $5 a month. This app seems nice, but it a) only works in chrome and b) is free, so I wonder how long it will stay around, or if they're going to start selling my eyeballs for compensation.
    - gislik 14y ago
      There are a few options when it comes to geo unblocking dns services and I agree with harisenbon - although I am using http://playmo.tv http://playmo.tv (happily for over a year now)
virtuallynathan 14y ago
They are routing this through Azure, their bandwidth bill is going to be through the roof.
- est 14y ago
  Nah, if you read the PAC you see, only page requests are been routed through the proxy, actual media streams are connected directly. Which makes sense. IP detection is done on web page, not actual media CDN servers.
- glennos 14y ago
  My page requests are going through 50.116.59.63 which resolves to mh.apps.lv, which redirects to their main URL. Where did you sniff the Azure connection?
rpm4321 14y ago
What I would love is a walk through on how to get the new cable-less HBO Go, now offered in Scandinavia for $10 a month, to work in the US.
bsimpson 14y ago
You can always just set up an SSH tunnel into an EC2 instance (or your home computer, if you don't have an EC2 account). Tell Firefox to route its traffic through your local proxy and use that for streaming.
- jawngee 14y ago
  EC2 is blocked by Hulu and, I think, Netflix. I know I tried that here in Vietnam with no success and went with VyprVPN instead.
  - bsimpson 14y ago
    Worked for me in April on Netflix from Spain.
PanMan 14y ago
Scary that it wants access to all websites. Is that needed? Beyond that, I have to say it works really easy: Install the extension, and nothing changes but Hulu works here.
- nvmc 14y ago
  Chrome warns about many plugins wanting access to all sites. IIRC it's a problem with Chrome's regex matching rather than any plugin.
michokest 14y ago
What I do: Use http://netshade.com http://netshade.com, pay for the proxy service and get 4-5 high quality proxies in the US (plus some others) Works like a charm for Netflix and others.
dhughes 14y ago
Canadian here. Pandora and Hulu flag me as a non-US resident, Rdio worked although I didn't proceed with signup. Netflix I already get but very limited compared to the US. edit: nevermind I'm a dumbass. It's like unblockus I understand now.
- jonny_eh 14y ago
  rdio is already available in Canada.
yamaneko 14y ago
It works! I finally can listen do Pandora again.
ashray 14y ago
As far as rdio is concerned, there is no requirement for a proxy server. They actually allow "US users" to travel abroad and listen to rdio. So, what you need to do is get through registration somehow. That works pretty well if you: a. Have a credit card with a US address b. Can go through Amazon payments with a US zipcode I have a credit card with a US address and therefore was able to sign up with no problems at all. Been using rdio for over a year and really enjoying it :) For those that do not have a card with a US address, it's still possible to get through using one of those pre-paid debit cards/asking an American buddy to help/something else. TLDR; rdio does not do IP based filtering.
- jonny_eh 14y ago
  It should also be noted that rdio is available in Canada too. So I guess the above would work with Canadian info/payment methods.
doesnt_know 14y ago
So how is this any different then linking to a torrent tracker? I mean, I get it, I live in New Zealand and it sucks that our only legal option for viewing media is by paying for SKY and waiting 6 months - a year or more for shit to reach us. This is still copyright infringement though, you are not authorized to view the media because you live outside the countries that these companies have the rights to broadcast to. I can't help but feel this sort of shit is just to make people feel better about piracy. You may as well just be honest with yourself and go ahead and download torrents, at least then you aren't actually costing Hulu, Netflix, Pandora etc money by using their bandwidth.
- jonny_eh 14y ago
  How is giving Hulu ad impressions or paying for a Netflix account costing those companies money? I don't see this as being much different than importing DVDs from the US. With this method someone gets paid, just not the local distributer. But why do they deserve the money anyways if they can't get you the content sooner?

44 points by tomaac 14y ago

btown 14y ago

I would assume Hulu et. al. restrict based on IP address. So is MediaHint running a large number of proxy servers? It seems this was put together at a hackathon... if so, how are they planning to get it to pay for itself?

jonny_eh 14y ago

So where is the traffic being routed through?

togasystems 14y ago
I just downloaded the proxy configuration file - http://mediahint.com/default.pac http://mediahint.com/default.pac It seems to be running through us.mediahint.com
RoyceFullerton 14y ago
Is all traffic being routed through their proxy or just the bare minimum to start the stream on the various websites? Basically: is all my chrome browser traffic going through their servers?

tobiasu 14y ago

http://www.mediahint.com/terms http://www.mediahint.com/terms "in any way that breaches terms of service or any other regulations of use of the websites you access;" Look, if you want to run a site/service violating copyright agreements, do it properly and post funny replies to the DMCA requests. Or whatever. But don't try to hide behind this pathetic pseudo-legalese bs.

DanBlake 14y ago
I believe a appropriate way to handle this would be to say something like: "In order to use this service, You must have obtained a waiver from Hulu, Netflix or Pandora that allows you to waive paragraph X of their terms of service. If you do not have express permission, You may not continue." Not sure how well it would hold up but in theory it would put the responsibility on the consumer and not the supplier.

togasystems 14y ago

I wonder how long this will last before the proxy is banned?

Dramatize 14y ago

I've been using http://www.unblock-us.com/ http://www.unblock-us.com/ for the last year. It's been a great service to access Netflix/Hulu.

andrewcross 14y ago
Same here. I have no problem paying the $5/month if it means the service stays up and runs flawlessly.
- harisenbon 14y ago
  I use unotelly personally, but I completely agree. The fact that it works on my iphone, ipad, appletv, etc is completely worth the measly $5 a month. This app seems nice, but it a) only works in chrome and b) is free, so I wonder how long it will stay around, or if they're going to start selling my eyeballs for compensation.
  - gislik 14y ago
    There are a few options when it comes to geo unblocking dns services and I agree with harisenbon - although I am using http://playmo.tv http://playmo.tv (happily for over a year now)

virtuallynathan 14y ago

They are routing this through Azure, their bandwidth bill is going to be through the roof.

est 14y ago
Nah, if you read the PAC you see, only page requests are been routed through the proxy, actual media streams are connected directly. Which makes sense. IP detection is done on web page, not actual media CDN servers.
glennos 14y ago
My page requests are going through 50.116.59.63 which resolves to mh.apps.lv, which redirects to their main URL. Where did you sniff the Azure connection?

rpm4321 14y ago

What I would love is a walk through on how to get the new cable-less HBO Go, now offered in Scandinavia for $10 a month, to work in the US.

bsimpson 14y ago

You can always just set up an SSH tunnel into an EC2 instance (or your home computer, if you don't have an EC2 account). Tell Firefox to route its traffic through your local proxy and use that for streaming.

jawngee 14y ago
EC2 is blocked by Hulu and, I think, Netflix. I know I tried that here in Vietnam with no success and went with VyprVPN instead.
- bsimpson 14y ago
  Worked for me in April on Netflix from Spain.

PanMan 14y ago

Scary that it wants access to all websites. Is that needed? Beyond that, I have to say it works really easy: Install the extension, and nothing changes but Hulu works here.

nvmc 14y ago
Chrome warns about many plugins wanting access to all sites. IIRC it's a problem with Chrome's regex matching rather than any plugin.

michokest 14y ago

What I do: Use http://netshade.com http://netshade.com, pay for the proxy service and get 4-5 high quality proxies in the US (plus some others) Works like a charm for Netflix and others.

dhughes 14y ago

Canadian here. Pandora and Hulu flag me as a non-US resident, Rdio worked although I didn't proceed with signup. Netflix I already get but very limited compared to the US. edit: nevermind I'm a dumbass. It's like unblockus I understand now.

jonny_eh 14y ago
rdio is already available in Canada.

yamaneko 14y ago

It works! I finally can listen do Pandora again.

ashray 14y ago

As far as rdio is concerned, there is no requirement for a proxy server. They actually allow "US users" to travel abroad and listen to rdio. So, what you need to do is get through registration somehow. That works pretty well if you: a. Have a credit card with a US address b. Can go through Amazon payments with a US zipcode I have a credit card with a US address and therefore was able to sign up with no problems at all. Been using rdio for over a year and really enjoying it :) For those that do not have a card with a US address, it's still possible to get through using one of those pre-paid debit cards/asking an American buddy to help/something else. TLDR; rdio does not do IP based filtering.

jonny_eh 14y ago
It should also be noted that rdio is available in Canada too. So I guess the above would work with Canadian info/payment methods.

doesnt_know 14y ago

So how is this any different then linking to a torrent tracker? I mean, I get it, I live in New Zealand and it sucks that our only legal option for viewing media is by paying for SKY and waiting 6 months - a year or more for shit to reach us. This is still copyright infringement though, you are not authorized to view the media because you live outside the countries that these companies have the rights to broadcast to. I can't help but feel this sort of shit is just to make people feel better about piracy. You may as well just be honest with yourself and go ahead and download torrents, at least then you aren't actually costing Hulu, Netflix, Pandora etc money by using their bandwidth.

jonny_eh 14y ago
How is giving Hulu ad impressions or paying for a Netflix account costing those companies money? I don't see this as being much different than importing DVDs from the US. With this method someone gets paid, just not the local distributer. But why do they deserve the money anyways if they can't get you the content sooner?